Re: Learning feats from subcults

From: charlescorrigan <charles_at_...>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 11:02:16 -0000

> charlescorrigan wrote:
>
> > In the players book page 181-182, there
> > is mention of learning specific feats
> > from other subcults without joining the
> > subcult. As the rules for theists were
> > substantially revised in Thunder Rebels
> > and Storm Tribe, do these original rules
> > still apply?
> >
> > Specific example. My character is a
> > devotee of Issaries the Guide.
> > Can he learn a feat, such as Find Escape
> > Route, from Gultha Goldentongue's Travel
> > affinity by just spending 1 Hero Point
> > (doubled if not related to the story)?
> ...
>
> I'd say definitely not.
>
> The player of a devotee of Gultha must
> spend 1 HP (2 HP if unrelated to session)
> to acquire a Gultha feat. If the player of
> a devotee of any other Issaries sub cult
> could the same there would be no
> difference between the sub cults.

My opinion, after ruminating on this for a while is that devotees (and possibly even initiates) can do this. The rules protection against abuse is that the feat is standalone and starts at a rating of 12.

The obvious next question is, well if an initiate can get a feat from a different subcult, why can't he get a feat from his own? Well, why not? As long as it is recorded as a standalone feat, separate from the affinity and raised separately. If the initiate later becomes a devotee, then the feat goes back into the affinity possibly with a bonus if the initiate had raised the standalone feat.

> Indeed, I would enforce a rule that you
> may not improvise feats which are closer
> to a different cult's feats than to your
> own, unless both feats were in a
> recognizable 'overlap' area.

I agree(ish). If the feat is an obvious interpretation of the affinity then either subcult can improvise/use it. However, the interesting subcult specific feats are often very loose interpretations of the affinity meaning and I would certaionly agree that a devotee of a different subcult could not improvise these.

regards,
Charles